Hospital Payment & Information Management Archives – December 1, 2002
December 1, 2002
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NY records department hit with two floods during major clean-up project
Imagine daring to take a look at your hospitals dungeon where a decade or more of medical records are stored and then deciding to clean up the mess as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible. -
Expert offers these tips on cleaning up records area
It doesnt matter whether a natural disaster, an accreditation survey, or simply the growing avalanche of files prompt a hospitals HIM department to plan a major clean-up of medical records, because there are certain strategies that can make this job easier and more efficient. -
AHIMA asks CMS to standardize E/M codes
Many G codes are outdated and overlap other coding sets, and coding for evaluation and management (E/M) services needs to be standardized once and for all, according to the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) of Chicago. -
Here’s how one system is using new ABN form
Hospitals that have long designed and used their own advance beneficiary notices (ABN) to inform patients that a service is not likely to be covered by Medicare now should be using a form released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). -
Electronic tracking of clinical pathways growing
Advancing technology continues to reshape the way acute care case management is practiced. One example of that is the growing trend toward automation. However, early experience shows that technology is no guarantee for physician buy-in at the front end, much less patient compliance at the back end. -
Team manages bed crunch with systemwide approach
While many hospitals face the same problem in terms of bed shortages, the solutions to this challenge are as varied as hospitals themselves. Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, CA, opted to address the problem by forming a Bed Utilization Management (BUM) team that took a systemwide comprehensive approach. -
Smallpox vaccinations imminent for hospitals
The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recently approved a plan that calls for smallpox immunization of 510,000 health care workers. -
Drug Coding Advisor: Hypertension presents unique coding challenge
Too often, a physicians charts will stop at the word hypertension, leaving the details for coders to obtain through careful detective work.